Bobby Travis · NASCAR/IndyCar Correspondent
On the brand-new street circuit around the National Mall, the championship leader posted the session's fastest lap while others battled track bumps and limited data.
Álex Palou topped Free Practice 2 for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., with the Ganassi driver posting a 56.6145-second lap on Saturday around the newly built 1.7-mile circuit wrapping the National Mall. He edged Kyle Kirkwood in the Andretti Auto by just under eight hundredths of a second. It was the second of two practice sessions before the inaugural race at this venue, built specifically to celebrate the nation's 250th anniversary in the nation's capital.
Palou Hits Top Form, Kirkwood Stays Close
Kirkwood held the edge in the opening session, with Palou sitting second roughly two tenths back. The second run told a different story entirely: Palou found several tenths and set the day's best time at 56.6145 seconds, while Kirkwood stayed within striking distance at 56.6911 seconds. The championship gap between the two is already substantial going into the weekend, with Palou holding a 133-point lead heading to D.C., and a strong showing here could push him closer to a premature title clinch.
Notably, Palou posted his best lap on the softer Alternate tires while Kirkwood achieved his time on the harder Primary compound. That suggests tire strategy will play a major role in this unfamiliar layout when 250 miles are on the line Sunday. Scott Dixon rounded out a strong trio atop the charts in the second Ganassi entry, with Nolan Siegel and Pato O'Ward rounding out the top five only fractions behind.
A Track Without a Track Record
What sets this weekend apart from every other IndyCar race: there's simply no historical data for this course. The layout running along Pennsylvania Avenue past the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol was laid down just weeks ago. Drivers reported significant bumps in turns two and six and rough pavement at street crossings where pedestrians once traversed Pennsylvania Avenue.
Christian Lundgaard felt the new circuit's quirks firsthand, with the Arrow McLaren pilot scraping a sloped barrier wall during his practice runs and ultimately ending the session in sixth. Teammate O'Ward showed McLaren adapted quickly with a fifth-place finish, while Siegel's fourth-place run was another strong signal that some teams found their footing on unfamiliar ground.
Newgarden Slips Back, Penske Searching for Form
Not everyone moved in the right direction during the second session. Josef Newgarden, sixth in the opening practice, tumbled to 19th in the second run and fell well behind Penske teammates Scott McLaughlin (P7) and David Malukas (P11). On a track lacking any historical reference points, such drops happen quickly when setups miss the mark, and with only two practice sessions before race day, teams have little time to fine-tune.
For Sunday's race, that reality matters: 147 laps and 250 miles represent one of the longest distances an IndyCar field has tackled on a street circuit, making fuel and tire management just as critical as raw pace. Palou arrives at qualifying with the fastest time and a commanding points cushion as the clear favorite, but on a track still new to its drivers, fortunes could shift several times between now and green on Sunday afternoon.
